First-Time Racers at Tampa’s Hyrox Debut Take On a Jacksonville Rivalry and a 70-Minute Goal

• Everard Shaw and Khari Myers are racing their first Hyrox in Tampa after a group of friends from Jacksonville dared them to sign up.
• Organizers expect about 19,000 athletes and more than 18,000 spectators across four days at the Tampa Convention Center, the series’ first visit to the city.
• Brothers Nico and Michael Pucci are chasing a 70-minute finish, while veteran Katie Smith is on her fourth city of the 2026 season.

A Dare From Jacksonville Put Two First-Timers on the Tampa Start Line

Everard Shaw has never raced a Hyrox, and he says he is ready anyway. “I’m ready for you HYROX,” Shaw said ahead of the opening heats. He and his friend Khari Myers are first-timers at the series’ Tampa debut, and a group of friends from Jacksonville challenged the two of them to enter. Shaw has a modest target. He told local television he does not care what the clock says, as long as he and Myers cross the line a full minute ahead of the Jacksonville group.

That kind of motivation fills start lines. Hyrox, the indoor fitness racing series that mixes running with functional stations, opened its first Tampa race this week at the Tampa Convention Center in downtown Tampa. Racing runs through Sunday, October 25, with heats starting at 8 a.m. and continuing until 8 p.m. each day. Coverage of the opening day put the expected turnout at about 19,000 athletes and more than 18,000 spectators over the four days. The Tampa Bay Sports Commission, which worked with Visit Tampa Bay to land the event, had projected more than 15,000 athletes in its own preview.

Adi Cohen, a content manager for Hyrox, said the organizers were thrilled that Tampa turned up with the same excitement the series brought with it. Jason Aughey of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission described Tampa as a new market that Hyrox wanted to enter, and local officials expect visitors to add days to their trips before or after the race.

What a Hyrox Race Asks of a First-Timer

Every Hyrox follows the same script, so a rookie in Tampa trains for the same race a veteran ran in Houston. Racers run one kilometer, work through a station, then run another kilometer, and they repeat that eight times. The running stays at a steady one kilometer each time, which makes the format easy to explain to a friend and easy to train for in a park. The total is eight kilometers of running and eight stations, always in this order:

• SkiErg
• Sled push
• Sled pull
• Burpee broad jumps
• Rowing
• Farmers carry
• Sandbag lunges
• Wall balls

Athletes can enter solo, as a doubles pair, or as part of a relay team. Divisions split by age and fitness level, which means a weekend exerciser and an elite racer land in different brackets. The loads on the sleds, carries and wall balls differ by division. In the Open division, for example, wall balls close the race at 100 reps for men and 75 for women, so the last station asks for leg endurance after seven stations and seven runs. Racers should confirm the current standards for their division on hyrox.com before race day, as organizers update loads from season to season. A newcomer who has never touched a sled can practice the movements at a gym that runs Hyrox classes, and most of those sessions pair a short run with a single station so beginners learn each movement before they string them together.

The atmosphere is part of the draw. According to the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, races come with a live DJ, loud crowds and vendors, and every finisher receives a patch. Hyrox started in Hamburg, Germany, in 2017 and reached the United States in 2019. The sports commission compared Tampa with last year’s Dallas race, which drew roughly 17,000 competitors and 30,000 spectators, about half of them from out of state.

Two Brothers and a 70-Minute Target

Nico and Michael Pucci are racing their first Hyrox side by side. Michael played football, basketball and baseball, and he has finished triathlons and marathons, so the aerobic base is in place. The brothers set a goal of 70 minutes, and Michael said they will reach it whatever happens on the course.

Seventy minutes is a useful number for anyone planning a first race. The course has 16 segments, eight runs and eight stations, so a 70-minute finish averages just under four and a half minutes per segment. The runs go quickly for a trained runner. The stations eat the time, especially the sleds and the wall balls, and the transitions between them add up. A first-timer who plans a pace for the whole day, rather than the first kilometer, tends to protect the finish.

A Fourth City for Katie Smith

Katie Smith shows the other side of the start line. She and her partner have raced Houston twice, Salt Lake City and now Tampa, with Denver and Dallas still to come before her 2026 season ends. Smith described herself to local television as a very competitive person and said she hoped to set a personal record in Tampa. Her calendar shows how the series works for returning racers: the format stays fixed from city to city, so a time in Tampa compares directly with a time in Salt Lake City.

Local gyms are catching up with the demand. Sukha Club Tampa in North Hyde Park began offering Hyrox classes in January. Its Nick Cheesman said Hyrox has softened the image of fitness competitions and pointed out that people of all abilities can run, and that most people can learn to move a sled and use the machines. That message fits a race where Shaw and Myers can show up on a dare while a marathoner or a former football player like Michael Pucci lines up in the same arena, each in a division that matches their fitness.

Tampa’s turnout will show whether weekend interest turns into weekday classes at gyms like Sukha. For Shaw, the verdict comes sooner. Somewhere in a Tampa results sheet, a group from Jacksonville has a time to beat, and he has said exactly how many minutes he wants between his finish and theirs.